Perry's Debate Flub Brings Back Memories

Texas  Gov. Rick Perry's disastrous flub in last night's Republican debate on CNBC -- in which he couldn't remember the third of three cabinet departments he said he'd eliminate -- stirred some memories of debates in the past. First here's Perry's big moment.



The first thing I thought of was the infamous 2006 debate debate between two New Mexico Congressional candidates, Republican Heather Wilson and Democrat Patricia Madrid. Madrid's painful hesitancy in answering a question from Wilson about tax increases is painful to watch. The Wilson campaign campaign got a devastating attack ad out of this moment. Some believe this was the deciding factor in that extremely close race.



However, when I was watching the debate at home, I thought the question shown in the below video was a far worse mistake on Madrid's part.



Below are a couple of examples from presidential debates. I like the first one especially because it features Michael Dukakis himself owning up to the fact that he blew it with with his dispassionate answer to the infamous hypothetical question about whether he'd want the death penalty if someone raped and killed his wife.




And the mother of all debate gaffes ...



UPDATE: 1:58 pm A co-worker just reminded me of this one from last year.